Our Rating: 80%

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Company Information and Credibility

Company Information:

HiFX was founded in the UK in 1998. It was meant to be a banking alternative for white-collar individuals to cut down on the cost of sending money overseas. The company grew over the next decade-and-a-half, establishing offices in the US, New Zealand, and Australia. In 2014, HiFX was purchased by American Euronet, which is a parent company to remittance transfer service Ria.

Euronet agreed to keep HiFX’s staff and branding, using the company to expand its customer base from the Hispanic immigrant population served by Ria. In the year since the buyout, HiFX’s reputation for affordable and excellent service has only been amplified, making the company one of the best currency transfer companies available on a broad international scale.

HiFX reviews are generally glowing and praising the firm for its integrity and service.

Regulated By:

Financial Conduct Authority (UK), FMA (New Zealand), FOS (Australia)

Awards:

Australia Business Awards, 2011

Tech Innovation Awards NZ, 2011

Conclusion:

A company that has transferred over £ 134,549,388,534 nby itself (over 200bn combined with sister companies), 8 international offices, and has over 8000 client reviews places HiFX on the top of the scale when it comes to credibility.

Credibility Rating

Client Feedback

Research:

HiFX has some of the most glowing feedback found for any currency transfer company, in both quality and quantity. TrustPilot: 9.5/10.0 (8000+ reviews). ReviewCentre: 4.5/5.0 (100+ reviews).

These are the two popular platforms for client reviews in the money transfer vertical, and we strongly rely on their feedback on our rating.

We have located a small amount of complaints about HiFX, and also about the UK Post Office Currency Transfer service that they provided until mid-2015. The few we did find discussed these areas:

Errors on Transfer

Fees incurred in a non-transparent way

Rates not as cheap as competitors

Not transparent

Unhelpful service

Conclusion:

Most people are every happy with HiFX’s services and all of their offerings. These people, which amount to 85%+ of all client reviews, feel they have got a great deal in terms of pricing, and receiving the service as expected.

On the other hand, you can find some HiFX complaints around, some of them on the official HiFX client review pages, and some are relating to Post Office Money Transfer services that HiFX has provided until mid 2015. These people are very upset about every aspect of service, and claim they have been charged with unanticipated fees.

To summarize, it seems like HiFX’s service may be inconsistent at times but it is generally good.

Exchange Rate & Fees

Research:

Fees: Fees are incurred globally – £9 per transfer for all transfers below £3,000, and $15 below $5,000 in the USA. Not only this makes the exchange rates much worse for those who are looking to transfer a thousand or two (9 pounds translate to almost 1% of the funds transferred), it makes testing HiFX more difficult. If you want to learn the process and try one test transfer of £100 or £200, it will cost you dozens of Pounds to initiate it.

November 2017 update: HiFX seem to have dropped their fees. This is what we see on their website anyhow, but we don’t know whether this is a global policy or only in the UK. We will further investigate the matter.

Exchange Rates: It’s really difficult to say how HiFX rates compare with other companies. As with as other companies we tested, they should be able to save you 50% or more of the transfer costs in comparison with banks. The question is which rates will they will be able to offer a price that beats other companies’ quotes remains unanswered but our assumption, because of the ample size of the company, that they would be able to provide a very tight margin quote on large amounts.

Here is the most recent comparison they have published:

Limits: Very comfortable limitations online of €50 to €300,000 which makes this service available to almost everyone.

HiFX Review – Fees – Conclusion:

HiFX is up there with the big dogs in terms of fees and exchange rates.

Exchange Rates & Fees Rating

Global Reach & Service

Research:

Dedicated Dealer: Yes.

Offices: UK, Spain, New Zealand, Australia.

Ways to approach: Email, Telephone.

Translations: None but localized version for USA, New Zealand and Australia.

Accepts clients: Worldwide

Currencies Handled: 60.

Client reviews: Usually like the service.

Conclusion:

Users can usually get friendly, helpful service available by phone or email, with support based in New Zealand, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Personalized advisors are available for large or complex transfers. Customer reviews are very positive on this front, describing service as competent, courteous, and prompt.

There are local offices for clients in various regions of the world, and they deal with more currencies than the vast majority of companies.

Global Reach Score

Additional Functionalities

Hedging:

HiFX offers only spot contracts through their web platform. All normal hedging features, including spot and forward contracts as well as stop and loss orders, are available by phone.

For Online Sellers:

Many of HiFX’s customers are businesses, but the company makes no special provisions for web merchants.

App:

HiFX has a currency conversion app. It works on iPhone and Android, but has no synergy with the real HiFX online platform. It feels like an attempt to get HiFX onto the common app stores and nothing more. It is rated 1/ 5 stars on the iPhone store, and damages HiFX’ strong reputation.

Conclusion:

Standard offering on hedging, nothing special for merchants (or at least not advertised) and a terrible app.

Special Features Score

HiFX vs World First

How does World First match up with its possibly biggest competitor, HiFX? Why did we gave World First 97.8% on our World First review, against HiFX’s mere 80.0%?

When you look at World First vs HiFX, there are several advantages that World First has in comparison, and this is why we believe it may be a better choice.

World First has a “Best Rate Guarantee” for UK clients, which means the rates will always be cheaper than competitors (if you shop around).

World First doesn’t levy any fixed transfer fees (with the exception of $10 for American clients for small transfers), HiFX charges £9 per transfer for all clients under £3,000.

World First has been winning more impressive industry awards, and more impressive directors including the former deputy of Bank of England.

World First has a more diverse offering to business clients with its World Accounts functionality.

World First have the smoothest sign up process in the business.

Thus, when we compare HiFX’s services to World First’s service, albeit they are very similar, we believe World First is the better options for most clients.

Review Summary

Credibility Score - 95%

95%

Client Feedback - 80%

80%

Fees, Exchange Rates - 80%

80%

Global Reach, Availability, Service - 85%

85%

Added Values - 60%

60%

Bottom Line

HiFX is a very solid choice for money transfers. With 20 years in operation, 8 worldwide offices, and €100bn transferred, it is extremely reliable. Clients are consistently happy with the service they have received. The downsides? €9 in fixed fees per transfer, and a terrible app.

41 comments

customer

Hifx is not a good service provider for forex. I sent the money through them – it didnt reached the recipient. They are not professional in handling any issue. customer service is very bad. Be prepared for the funds to be lost if you transact with hifx.

That hasn’t been my experience with them. I sent the deposit for a house from the UK to SA and it didn’t reach the agent. HiFX were very responsive in following it up with the various intermediate banks and found it delayed in the SA central branch of the agent’s bank, and provided me all the transaction logs and codes to follow up through the recipient with their bank. It was delayed, but it got there in the end.

I attempted to create an account in order to send money to the UK from where I work in the Middle East. Account set up was fast but so much personal info was required by them in order to prove who I was as well as waiting for an authentication number to be sent by post to prove my address. Then without warning me they tried to call my employer to confirm that the proof of address letter I had requested from them was in fact real. All this conspired to make me miss the good exchange rate I had seen (nearly two weeks). I then requested they cancel my account and I used my bank to transfer the money instead. No such palaver was involved with them.

Michael, thank you for the great feedabck. Indeed, it sounds pretty odd that they have decided to use such an old-fashion and inefficient method to verify your identity. Every money transfer company which is operating legally would require some documents in order to prove the identity of their clients, but using postal services (nicknamed “snail mail” for a good reason) is just absurd. We reckon it’s because HiFX doesn’t have a local representative in the Middle East. Other companies might be easier to deal with, though. Currencies Direct operates in the following manner:

– If you’re located in the UAE you will be contacted by their local office which will request you to send utility bill and passport scans to verify your identity. Shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes. – If you’re located in the Middle East outside the UAE, you will be required to get a notarised copy of your utility bills translated to English, and your passport scans. This can take a few days to prepare but it’s more effective than sending you a verification code via postal services.

Don’t give up on commercial FX firms just yet! If you’re transferring frequently and/or large volumes you would save enough money to make the hassle worth it.

I have a similar problem to Michael, I moved to Thailand but was still using my brothers UK address as my residential address. I happened to phone HIFX about something and their representative advised me to change my address to Thailand to which I then did. Now it’s an uphill battle to get my address changed to here and my account is blocked, I have very little paperwork in English but even after receiving the urc letter they won’t accept letters from BUPA or my BUPA membership certificate as proof of address. ( I had previously provided letters from my company & HMRC but the dates weren’t within 3 months). Even though I’ve been a customer for 6 years and the money is sent from the same UK Halifax account to the same Thai bank account or my wife’s they’re still keeping me in limbo. As I’ve never had any problems with any transactions previously I would prefer to remain a customer with them but I’m running out of patience so I’m about to take my business elsewhere. The Thai immigration are easier to deal with for my visa.

Hello sir, thank you so much for sharing your situation. Why did their representative advise you to change your address of residency to begin with? The whole situation sounds a bit odd even, considering for how long you have been doing business with them, but as you know these FX firms are extremely stringent due to Anti Money Laundering laws… Give a few other top-rated companies a try and you might find the whole process easier with them. Please update us if you had any better luck with other companies!

I was advised to change my address as I was no longer a UK resident and as I had been a customer for 6 years didn’t think there would be any problem.

I used your website yesterday to search for a new company and the first one I tried said they won’t take customers living in Thailand (World First Money ) and I did speak to a representative from another company ( who called me in Thailand after I had requested a quote through your website) and he said that his company would have similar compliance issues to HIFX although I am going through the process and hopefully will be able to open an account with them.

When sending large amounts of money it is a very nerve wracking experience until the money reaches the bank account here so once I had found a company I could trust I wanted to stick with them. I have nothing bad to say about HIFX, the situation is as it is due to their very high security standards.

‘Frustrated’ you are talking rubbish. I too live in Thailand, up in Isaan. I’ve never encountered a problem with them and I was impressed with their assistance in setting up my account. And Thai Immigration are definitely not easier to deal with. A little exaggeration there ‘Frustrated’.

Hi, thank you for your elaborated response. Indeed, World First don’t accept people who are residing in Thailand at the moment but some other companies are including Moneycorp and Currencies Direct which you can try. We definitely understand why you would want to stick to HiFX and we also rate them very well on our website as one of the biggest and most trustworthy players in this market. We can also related to what other companies are saying in terms of document provision – most of them use the EXACT same KYC i.e. have exactly similar requirements.

The only fault we see here is the representative offering his advice without looking deeper into potential consequences / complications. If it wasn’t for him, you would still be able to use HiFX’s platform with ease. We most certainly do hope it resolves soon and if there is anything we can do, we would be happy to aid.

A slight elaboration, the HIFX representative was female and it was in the middle of a transaction so that was blocked although at the time I think she didn’t know or consider it. The money was being sent for land purchase so I was pulling my hair out as my wife and I were entering into a contract to buy the land in a few days. After some discussions with their compliancy department the transaction was allowed to complete thus saving me from having to fly to the UK and get cash then fly back and after completion the account was blocked. This why I have no complaints about HIFX for anybody living in the UK, I have been given some cash as compensation but I can’t access it due to the account being blocked although I’m not bothered about that as long as I had got my money from the UK.

Well, we’re happy to hear you did get a remarkable service at the end of the day. Thank you for your fair and well-balanced review. We think that in your case, considering all the data you have provided us, HiFX have been more than OK.

Further news to above, I’ve been accepted byTorFX using the BUPA letters + membership certificate, a letter from HMRC date Dec 2015, a screen grab of my UK bank account showing my address and a scan of my passport. It’s a pity that HIFX wouldn’t accept this proof especially as I was an existing customer of a few years standing not a new customer.

Thank you! It’s indeed a bit odd HiFX weren’t more flexible. If Tor can accept these documents, so should HiFX. Please let us know about your experience with Tor. They are very recommended by us.

Posted on June 15, 2016

Andrew Welsh

I sent a transfer to Japan for my daughter at university and it has still not arrived, i phoned on several occasions and still nothing has been done, they tell you one thing on the phone then do not follow up, i have recieved emails saying they are putting a trace on it, but that is as far as it goes. I transfer from the UK to Spain every month a far amount of money and have had no problems so i can only think Japan was out of there capabilties, hence to say i am looking to use a diffrent company in the new year for all my transfers.

Thank you for your valuable feedback Andrew. It’s hard to believe a popular currency as the JPY is out of the hands of a company like HiFX which is owned by Euronet, one of the world’s largest currency providers. It is disappointing to read how they did not follow up on your transfer though, and we can understand why you would look for another company. World First have local offices in Japan and will have no trouble at all moving money there. Good luck!

Such a shame HiFX couldn’t deliever under the pressure! We told HiFX from the start we needed the transfer to happen asap as we were exchanging on a house. There were problems from the beginning. The lack of communication from them was unacceptable coming from a big company. We had to phone them over ten times, always speaking to a different person. Never told we had to verify our account until we rang them in a panic wondering where on earth our money was. Shouldn’t be so stressful…..surely?!?

Daniel thank you for your feedback. Quite surprising I must admit. The whole concept of foreign exchange companies is prompt and personalised service. Unlike banks, you should not be chasing them. Could you provide more details about the transfer? We would be happy to inquire about it with HiFX and amend their rating in case it is any relevant.

Hi I have nothing to do with this company and they tried to take money out of my account never heard of them and plus I don’t even have any cash in my bank. They are crooks I have my bank investigating because it is not fair for hifx taking money out I don’t have.

I have had a terrible experience with HiFX I decided to use them for the 1st time to send money to China for purchase, the website said it would take up to four days, that was 10 days ago up to now there’s been no resolving my issues I call them they make false promises on the phone and nobody gets back to me! I have to follow up and they use very pleasant language to say they have done nothing! I would not recommend using this service they will waste a lot of your time. And you never get that back!

That’s terrible to hear Theo. I appreciate how sending money to China could take much longer than any other region (I am surprised they deal with the Yuan at all), but they should definitely keep you updated.

We’ve been using HiFX for the past three years and we couldn’t be happier. Much cheaper and quicker than our bank would have been.

The transfers have always been very easy to complete and arrived at the destination account within the time specified. We transfer to Spain regularly, so perhaps the process is much simpler within Europe.

We’ve just made another transfer and were very pleased to see that the £9 transfer fee is no more!! Great service, we would thoroughly recommend.

I have used HiFx for a payment transfer back into UK currency. The result was that HiFX held onto my money for 5 working days after they had received funds into their accounts. When I asked why the delay they initially said it was public holidays etc in the other country, when I pointed out that they had already received the money into their UK account before these public holidays they then changed their reason to we had contracted to transferring to you at the later date (I checked and could not find any info to support this). I have used HiFx before and the cash transfers came within a couple of days, it appears to me that they are holding onto client money for reasons they do not wish to disclose.

Recipient had to pay $125 of hidden charges due to additional complexity from the HiFX service. This is not clear from any of the HiFX documentation and they do not accept any liability for charges imposed by other banks as a result of using HiFX. Use at your own risk.

Do not use HI FX I had an old contract that I didn’t relise was open and when I changed my money on new contract with that reference code they changed money over on a very old rate and lost a lot of money It was very poor of them to do that to hard working people , when I called them I spoken to very poorly and was told I wasn’t knowledgable That’s fine I’m a carpenter I don’t expect to be knowledgable that’s why I put trust in Hifx to use their experience but they completely frauded me , I made complaint to police and bank and able to claim some money back It’s very poor the customer would be treated this way Company would rip their own customers without communication or phone call before transaction was made they new what they were doing So please be warned

Paul could you elaborate on that? I’m not sure I understood the scenario. Although we are better recommending other companies over HiFX we haven’t seem anyone making such accusations against them just yet.

Very bad customer service. Over 2 weeks that i have sent the payment and still has not been sent to recipient. Thay have asked so many questions that i have provided straight away. According to them the bank they work with is at fault and holding the funds but that’s all they tell me. Avoid this company they are very bad! If i transfer back the money i will loose as the rate has droped. USE somebody else as when you have a problem with them they are rubbish! I have now lost 1 of the lodge i wanted to book for our honeymoon because it got full and still don’t have my money back!

There are plenty of alternatives here on the site and there are a lot of big buttons leading you to a lists of the top money transfer providers in our opinion. However, we cannot give you any individual advice, we’re sorry!

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